The Forgotten Queen
by soulsborne123
Summary: The discovery of the ancient city called Yharnam was supposed to be the biggest archeological find of the decade. But perhaps some secrets are best left well alone…
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Illuminated only with the dim light of their emergency candles, Joanna couldn't help but feel the unease creep in. It was not a problem in daylight, or even when they had working lamps that provided a constant source of light, but with the flickering flame the shadows turned the Gothic embellishments on the pillars and doors from being grotesque to outright nightmarish. And despite the roominess inspired by the open archways and the high vaulted ceiling that gave the impression of rising high into the heavens, she couldn't help but feel stifled.

She shook this feeling away and cleared her mind, trying to focus on the game before her.

"Check."

Her opponent pulled his lips to the side and studied his hand intimately though his eyes seemed to land on nothing in particular. As if sensing her studying his every move, he cleared his throat and feigned confidence, jutting out his chest a little more than usual. Joanna, for the meantime, forgot her unease. He was being too obvious. Normally she would wonder if he was attempting reverse-_reverse_ psychology, but although she'd only known him for a week, she knew that Nick would be too simple and straightforward to consider that option. It could only mean two of the same things: either he had a very low hand, or none at all.

"Yeah, I'll raise the bet," he said, holding up two coins and making a big show of slamming them down on the table. The noise it made echoed obnoxiously loud.

"You _do _know how poker works, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

She shook her head. "Suit yourself. They're your chocolate bars to lose..." She threw in another coin to match what he put down.

"Okay, let's see what you got."

Joanna revealed a seven of hearts and a four of diamonds. Counting the community cards on the table, she only had a pair of sevens. It wasn't exactly the greatest hand, but she knew it would be enough to beat her colleague.

"Damn, again…"

"Oh Nick, you aren't very good at this." She laughed and added three more tick marks on her notebook, the little rush from winning made her completely forget the unease she felt moments ago. "You owe me 12 pieces now. You'll need to stake another item; I won't care very much for your chocolate bars any more if we keep going at this pace and that'd be a shame."

Nick rolled his eyes and gathered the cards. "Oh be quiet. I've got—" but a sudden loud thud in the distance made the two of them nearly jump out of their seats. They whipped their heads back and tried to search the darkness beyond what their candlelight could illuminate, but saw nothing out of place. Joanna remembered everything again.

"Must have been the wind," Nick mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure the sound came from inside that door and you know there is no chance of wind behind there."

"Okay, structure settling."

"Stone settles?"

Nick sighed. "'Okay, then what, ghosts?"

"_I don't know_, maybe," she answered with an edge to her voice. "With everything that's happened, don't you think… don't you think it may be supernatural after all?"

Nick let out a breath, unsure of what to reply.

"Come on, Jo. You don't really think that? It's an ancient place. Nothing about… this… screams haunted..." As he said this, the two of them looked warily around their immediate vicinity: ghastly figurine statues of cloaked women interspersed along the edges of the room, hands outstretched towards the heavens in a plea; empty clay jars scattered about, which they thought must have been used to hold wine, though recent findings point to it actually having once hosted blood; a giant lancet window framed with elegant tracery that let in what little of the obscured moonlight there was, which only served to cast formless shadows all around.

Nick looked at Joanna again and repeated with less confidence, "Yep, looks normal to me. We should be okay. And it's a holy place. Don't ghosts fear Jesus, or something?"

"What? Ghosts can be in churches. And churches _can _becreepy, especially long abandoned ones. Have you not seen any horror movies?" Joanna retorted, wondering how it was possible for this to not be common knowledge.

"No, come on, let's be logical about it. Have you been to other dig sites before or is this your first rodeo?"

Joanna deflated and admitted, "No, this is the first." Although she was only a third year Archeology undergraduate student, her work and track record had impressed her professors and they fully endorsed her in joining this short expedition.

Without turning haughty or dismissive, Nick nodded and simply said, "Then okay, I get it. But let's consider the facts: a giant city in the middle of a dense forest, abandoned and hidden for over two centuries. _Of course _it'll be overwhelming. The buildings here may look like they're in good shape, but sometimes we can't see all the damage, which might be causing all the random noises we can't understand. It could also be rats, or something."

"But that's the problem, isn't it? We should have at least seen some rats by now. I haven't even seen bugs. Have you?"

"Well it's a bit too nippy here, probably."

"But rats should—" Once again, their conversation was cut off. This time it was the long, baleful howl of a wolf that made them shudder. Eerily on time, the clouds that obscured the full moon parted and bathed the church in its pale, luminescent light. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it made Joanna question whether she preferred the figures partially hidden in darkness, or exposed fully in the moonlight.

A new thought hit her. "What if this is how it all starts? The last time Professor Gimmel and the others disappeared, wasn't it also a full moon? What if Jon's just the first?"

"Full moon? First ghosts, now you think witches are involved? Or do you mean werewolves?"

"Well, why not?" she snapped, annoyed more at herself, knowing full well how ridiculous she was being. "That was undoubtedly a wolf, and nearby too by the sounds of it, but everyone keeps insisting there are no wolves around here. How does that make sense? Nothing in this place makes sense."

"You know yourself that there's been no signs of wolves around here. None of us have found footprints, or droppings, or old kills in the area. They would have left _some _kind of trace in the woods outside. Besides even if they were outside, we're still safe within the city walls since they're _definitely _not in here." Nick gathered up the cards and resumed shuffling. "I don't know. Maybe it was an owl."

"That's just ridiculous. What about that weird singing choir we sometimes hear at night? Kyle and his group heard it, too. I've also read mentions of it in the old reports."

She leaned in closer and whispered, "I think this is a cursed place. Those jars and the bottles we've found… I think it's becoming more obvious that a blood-borne disease led to a slow collapse of this town. Look at those countless graves outside— people had time to bury their dead. The manner of those blood rituals are still unclear, but usually that would point to pagan worship, right? Yet the significance of the Church and religion in this city leads me to think it's actually something _sanctioned_ by them. To have the Church's sacrament be twisted... There must have been something seriously wrong with this place."

"I actually agree with your points, but we can't just jump to conclusions. I guess we'll have to wait and see if the lab has been able to transcribe those old texts..."

As if completely unaware he even spoke, Joanna continued her denunciations and was steadily growing in urgency until she reached a fevered hiss, "And that creepy nun! Where the hell did she come from? I don't trust her. And now Jon's missing and we could be next. Just remember that three years ago the others investigated this place and disappeared without a trace."

"You don't need to remind me of that, Jo."

His tone made Joanna stop and look up. His face was grim.

In her delirium she forgot that Nick was personally connected to the events three years ago. How could she have been so callous? She was trying to formulate a way to properly apologize when to her surprise, he quickly recovered his composure and resumed as if she hadn't misspoke.

"Jon's always been the kind of 'not always there' type of person though, hasn't he? Maybe he wandered off and got lost. The others will find him and when they do, we'll be right here ready to radio for help."

Joanna groaned. "Nick, _something_ is _wrong_ with this place." She cast another look at her cards and muttered, "I'll raise."

Nick thumbed his cards absentmindedly before calling her raise to stay in the round.

"Again, in terms of its odd history, I agree with you. But to say that what's happening now is due to supernatural causes? That's too much, Jo."

He revealed the fifth card on the table and took in a sharp breath as she put down yet another coin to stay in the round. All he had was a pair of twos.

Was it worth to continue on? He shook his head. "Okay, I fold."

He revealed his cards. She revealed a losing hand.

"Son of a—" but for the third time that night, the sentence was cut off by the sound of the doors opening and heavy footfall fast approaching. It was one of their colleagues who had gone out as part of the search party. He stood before them completely out of breath as if he had sprinted for miles.

He was clearly shaken and quite manic as he gasped out, "They found him! My god, they found him!" Unable to elaborate further, he resorted to gesticulating wildly and pointed outside.

Fearing the worst, Nick immediately stood up and radioed for an ambulance. Unfortunately their heavily secluded location meant that help can reach them twenty minutes at the earliest provided good road conditions. As he spoke to the operator and gave detailed directions, he grabbed one of the first-aid kits nearby and threw it towards Joanna, who caught it and rushed outside with the researcher.

Many scenarios played in Joanna's head, the kind of accidents Jon could have gotten himself into. The current expedition was only meant to go on for two weeks at most and thus their patron did not think it necessary to send out a qualified field doctor with them. At the very best, they had an avid hiker among their group who was trained and volunteered to be their first-responder, but she only knew how to take care of minor injuries. She wondered if Cecile was already at the scene and whether the kit she carried would even be of any use.

However when they reached the plaza, Joanna stopped in her tracks.

It was not Jon.

Most of the group were already gathered, looking on just as surprised as she was. Cecile was already hunched down with him, checking for any serious signs of injuries.

"Who…?" she asked in a whisper, more to herself, and in the still air her voice carried but no one spoke a word.

"What in the-Professor Gimmel!"

Joanna frowned and spun around. Nick had finally caught up. He stood beside her, speechless and confused.

"The Professor? But it's been three years since… Are you sure that's him?"

Nick finally snapped out of his stupor and slowly approached the sickly, pale man. "Professor Gimmel, are you hurt anywhere? It's okay now. Help is on its way. Are you able to walk further? Our base is at the church nearby." When the professor wouldn't respond, Nick looked to Cecile. "What's happened? How is he?"

"Shocked, I reckon. Hasn't spoken a word nor looked at anyone in the eye, really. I don't even think he realizes we're here."

Joanna listened to their conversation while her head buzzed with a million questions. She looked the professor over.

He was bony, disheveled, reeked of something foul, but otherwise he appeared unharmed. Where had he been all this time? How had he survived out here for that long on his own? From the looks of it, it didn't seem like he'd had much to eat, and with the absence of any animals and edible vegetation around, how was he able to provide enough sustenance to keep himself alive for so long? But then again, didn't the nun live here on her own as well and was somehow able to survive? Perhaps the nun had known of his whereabouts all along? Where were the others?

She only knew him by name: a distinguished professor from Cambridge who led a team of seasoned archeologists, crewmen, and a handful of graduate students to study the newly discovered ancient city called Yharnam. It was meant to be the next biggest discovery, but in the end it had to be kept hushed up due to the tragic story of the original excavation team. They had been working for half a year before most of the crew, fifteen people including the Professor, suddenly disappeared without a trace.

The case was cold. No leads, no suspects to consider. Work on the site was temporarily put on hold, but eventually another wealthy patron stepped up and fresh, willing workers eager to sign up for an adventure were found. If it weren't for the appeal of the occult and the dig site's macabre history, Joanna would have passed on this opportunity. Alas, though she thought herself not spiritual in the least and refused to believe in supernatural phenomena, the fear of the unknown both excited and scared her. Like a living contradiction, the more outrageous the circumstance, the more she refused to believe, and yet the more mystified she became, the more it terrified and _thrilled_ her to think it could be supernatural.

Her attention switched back to Nick, who, after having no luck extracting any information from the professor, turned to the rest of their colleagues and asked, "Where did you guys find him?"

"It was Adella who found him," answered Thomas. "Karen and I were on our way towards the area below the Cathedral when we came across her and the Professor. She said she found him down _there_."

"Well where is she now?"

"Slinked off somewhere. You know how she is. The Professor here has been unresponsive to our questions so we just took him here as soon as possible. All he kept talking about was something about some 'big one' or other. Don't seem to realize we're here at all. We need to get him out of here as soon as possible."

As if on cue, the Professor collapsed on the ground, prostrated himself, and suddenly shouted in excitement, "Oh, Amygdala! Amygdala! Oh… what a pleasure it is to see the divine!"

The clouds had cleared once again and the moon illuminated the forgotten city, the towering Gothic buildings, weathered and ancient. The town was a mess: rubble, gravestones, and coffins strewn about, rotted of old age. Though the addition of a new light source was most welcome, the sight of a large, full moon unsettled everybody.

Joanna tried to follow the Professor's gaze. He seemed to be focusing on the rooftop. Whatever he saw there moved him almost to tears, but she saw nothing. A hallucination, perhaps?

The voice of Evan, one of the younger contractors, broke her train of thought. He had just arrived with two others.

"Thomas, we checked the area to corroborate what Adella said, but no one else there, just him."

Thomas whipped around. "What about the Gate? Was it still open?"

"Open?" Joanna interrupted incredulously. The others around her were just as surprised at this information.

"We didn't venture too close to it, but we saw it was still open."

"Since when and how?"

"Don't know, kid. It wasn't open yesterday when the others checked."

Thomas turned to the others. He was the most senior ranking member of the team and was responsible for everyone's safety, but this new opportunity was just too good to pass up. Previously inaccessible, now its gate lay wide open. What new discoveries could they find in the lower area? Moreover, there was a good chance they could find the remaining missing people there— alive or dead. He shuddered.

"What do you guys think? Shall we take a team down there?"

Nick answered, "I've already radioed in for emergency; they're on their way. The sky's clear now so we can take advantage of the moonlight. Probably best not to venture out too far though, but if the Professor got out, the others may not be far behind."

"Agreed. We'll go with a small team for now. Cecile you're in charge here to make sure evac goes well. Jon might still be out there, too. If you don't need that kit, we'll take it with us. Mike, Evan, Karen, Nick, let's go."

"Take me with you!"

Thomas turned around. Beside him, Nick shrugged and said that she wouldn't make trouble. With a sigh, he also motioned for Joanna to follow along.

The trek was a long one. After climbing several sets of stairs and winding along dark alleyways, they finally arrived at the Grand Cathedral, the tallest, most grandiose building in the city, but instead of heading inside the group turned right, following the narrow pathway around the building and found themselves by a cliff side. Following the long stairway down led them to the central plaza of a small community of decrepit houses, where it's been suggested clergymen and nuns must have once lived. But the trek didn't end there. Further along there were more stairs leading even lower below, leading to a hollowed out, possibly man-made cave. The group was forced to huddle in closer together due to the tight space, the feeling of claustrophobia setting in and making everyone's heart beat a little faster until they all finally emerged on the other side.

From the distance, they could see the atrium that housed the aforementioned gate that sectioned away a part of the town no one had ever managed to step foot in.

Thomas held his hand up, halting their advance. He himself took a few steps forward and frowned.

The Gate, which was the name they've baptized the set of gigantic double doors towering approximately forty feet high, was sealed completely shut as it had always been.

* * *

_Note: Bloodborne has such a great lore. I didn't want to consider doing another AU, so the challenge really became-"How can I attempt fit GH within the BB story so that it makes sense with the GH universe?" __I haven't had a chance to write for a while since I was busy with school, but that I'm on a leave and have some time, I can finally work on it. But that doesn't mean I've abandoned GH Tennis AU. That's still alive._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The Dolphin Cafe was busy as usual. Mai Taniyama paused to inhale the scent of freshly brewed coffee and baked bread before continuing her trek up the stairs, through the hallway and past other small offices, until she reached the brown door with frosted pane. On it the words _'SPR Shibuya Psychic Research'_ was printed in an elegant script.

She pushed it open, making sure not to make too much noise. With the coast clear, she crossed the reception area and deposited her school items behind her office desk.

The sound of voices floated from the CEO's office. Even with the door slightly ajar, she couldn't understand what was being said. Curious, she silently approached to listen.

"I'd have to refuse."

"But Martin and I believe you're the best person to consult about this."

Mai's eyes widened. The voices were speaking in rapid English, but they sounded familiar. One she knew belonged to her boss, though it seemed as if speaking in his mother tongue made his voice drop a little lower in timbre, while the female voice could only belong to Madoka Mori.

What was she doing back in Japan?

She peeked inside.

Mai could only see her from the back, but from her light brown hair, which at times hit the light just right to make it seem almost pink, she knew it was definitely the bubbly, carefree investigator who kindly mentored her during her boss' absence. Thanks to her, Mai was able to graduate from being a part-time assistant, to a part-time investigator.

On the other hand, she could see her boss' face— he was sitting with his arms crossed, beautiful, as always, but aloof and maybe a tad irritated. Also as always.

"Is that so? Or is it more that it's the perfect excuse for the lot of you to get me to come back home?"

"Well…" Madoka hesitated. "I mean, of course Martin and Luella would be glad to have you back, but I'm sure they truly believe you're the leading expert on this. And you know I believe it."

"Don't patronize me. I don't intend to come home while I still have unfinished business here."

"So you keep saying. But what? Is it… Could it be Gene's spirit that keeps you here?"

At the mention of Gene's name, Mai stiffened up.

There was a pause before he answered, "It is in everyone's best interest for Gene's spirit to move on. He was a powerful psychic. His spirit turning malevolent over the years will surely become problematic, therefore I need to figure out why that idiot won't move on before it's too late." His voice was calm and collected, almost detached.

Typical Naru.

Mai shook her head and pulled away, knowing that she shouldn't be eavesdropping on this personal conversation. It would be best if she made her presence known sooner or later, otherwise it would be more awkward to try and explain why she had been so quiet this whole time. She headed to the kitchenette to prepare everyone a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, Madoka observed her ex-student's casual posture and decided to push matters further.

"Noll…"

He was known by many names: Noll, Naru, Kazuya Shibuya, Oliver Davis. To people in Japan he was known as Kazuya Shibuya, head of Shibuya Psychic Research, though it was a fake name used to hide his true identity so he could investigate his brother's death in secret. To the greater psychic community and the rest of the world he was Oliver Davis, renowned for his psychokinetic abilities and as a valued member of the Society for Psychical Research. To his Japanese colleagues and friends he was known simply as Naru, narcissistic and arrogant at times but always their dependable leader. But to her he was always Noll, her young, prodigy student who caused her way too many headaches once upon a time, although nowadays his expertise greatly surpassed her own.

"Is it really not something you can pursue back home? Your spot in the university can't be held for you forever, you know."

Noll sighed. "I'm not putting my studies off indefinitely. Once I finish here, I intend to get my degree. If they can't hold my spot, then I will simply just have to reapply."

Madoka hummed. He had a point. Having already written several papers as a leading expert in Parapsychology and psychic phenomena, it's not like reapplying for admission would be too difficult for him.

"So," she pressed on, "what is going on, exactly? With Gene, I mean. Is he bound to the site of his…?"

The words hung in the air. She wasn't quite sure how to phrase it without getting emotional. Gene had also been her student once.

"It's not the site he's bound to," Noll answered. "Gene's spirit latched on to Mai. It seems I'm unable to contact him unless I'm in the proximity of—"

Noll stopped abruptly and Madoka turned around. Mai Taniyama stood meekly by the doorway.

"H-hello. Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to let Naru know I'm here. I've also prepared everyone a cup of tea."

"Taniyama-san! How nice to see you!" Madoka switched to Japanese and spoke it as easily as she had spoken in English.

"Mori-san, hello! I didn't know you were in the country."

Madoka tilted her head coyly and winked. "Just visiting my favorite protege. Oh, and Noll, too."

Mai giggled. "Well I should get back outside. Sorry again for interrupting. If you want, I can head downstairs for a while to give you guys more privacy?"

"Oh, there is no need to do that, Taniyama-san."

"Indeed, I doubt you understood any of it anyway."

Mai turned to Naru with a scowl. "No, but that's because I was trying not to eavesdrop. For your information, Yasuhara-san has been tutoring me and I do much better with English now, thank you very much."

Naru shrugged. "I suppose anything is an improvement for you."

Mai stuck her tongue out at him.

Madoka laughed. "At any rate I was really just talking to Noll about a case back in England. I think he's the best person to solve it, but so far he's been refusing me."

It wasn't a surprise. Naru was very particular about the cases he took and often turned away many clients. He was only interested in what he deemed were legitimate cases of supernatural phenomena. However, the last few times Madoka made the trip to Japan had only been for important reasons: once to take on a case that involved an Oliver Davis impersonator (which turned out to be one of their toughest supernatural case of yet), and the other was to take over as temporary CEO of SPR while Naru and his family laid his brother's body to rest. If this case was important enough for her to cross the ocean to coax him about it, wouldn't that already speak of the gravity of the situation? Thinking thus, Mai voiced it out loud.

Naru studied her. His gaze was too penetrating and intense, Mai wasn't sure if he was even aware he was doing it.

"W-what?" Mai asked.

"If you're just worried about being away from your cute part-timer, why don't you just bring her along?"

Mai spluttered in embarrassment while Naru merely rolled his eyes with a scowl.

"Come to think of it, considering the gravity of the situation, it might be best if you could bring in all your experts. I think you'll be needing everyone's help for this one."

Naru still appeared unconvinced. "The logistics of bringing my entire team and equipment abroad would give me too much headache."

"I didn't want to say it before, but Mr. Pratt is actually really interested in this case. He has stepped forward to fund the field research, so whatever you need, you can take it from headquarters. Having of course, read your case report on Urado, he was hoping you'd be the one to take the lead on this and asked me to recruit you if possible. I'm sure he'd be perfectly fine to have your entire team over."

Naru smiled wryly. "And were you just trying to go for theatrics?" Mai noted that he seemed to switch to English naturally when he was displeased. "This conversation would have gone a lot shorter if you started with that."

"I didn't want to use the big guns until the end."

With a heavy sigh, Naru answered, "Then I haven't really much choice, have I?"

* * *

_Note: Thank you to those who left a review! To those unfamiliar with Bloodborne, it wouldn't be a deal breaker since I hope I will do a decent job to bring its elements in as organically as I can :) And as always: thank you for reading!_


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